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A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from implementing the latest version of the controversial travel ban.

The latest ban was set to go into effect on October 18, stopping travelers from Syria, Libya, Iran, Yemen, Chad, Somalia, North Korea and Venezuela from entering the US. But this decision from Judge Derrick K. Watson in Hawaii means that the administration cannot restrict the entry of travelers from all of these countries, except North Korea and Venezuela.

Watson wrote that President Trump’s ban ‘plainly discriminates based on nationality’.

Hawaii Attorney General Doug Chin said in a statement that Tuesday’s ruling ‘is another victory for the rule of law,’ adding: ‘We stand ready to defend it.’

Watson previously blocked enforcement of Trump’s second travel ban and he wrote that this latest ban ‘suffers from precisely the same maladies as its predecessor: it lacks sufficient findings that the entry of more than 150 million nationals from six specified countries would be “detrimental to the interests of the United States”‘.

The block is sure to upset Trump (Picture: AP)

Trump’s travel bans have sparked numerous protests across the country (Picture: AP)

The Immigration and Nationality Act gives the president authority to make decisions about who can enter the United States, but, according to Watson: ‘These provisions do not afford the President unbridled discretion to do as he pleases.’

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Watson’s order was issued in response to a lawsuit filed by the state of Hawaii, a Honolulu-based mosque, its imam and two state residents who have relatives in the affected countries.

They claimed that the ban would hurt the state’s university system, which includes students and teachers from the blocked countries, negatively impact the Hawaii tourism industry and prevent relatives from visiting them in the US.